2011 Season West Virginia Mapler

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Weather is looking like it is going to change for the better starting Sunday 02/13 and plan is to at least tap the 240 tap south side bush. If it looks really good for next week, might put in the other 145 taps in the other south bush. Plan on holding off until around 1st of March to tap the 240 taps on the north bush. We'll see what happens and here is the forecast:

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/25976

[220 maple]

Brandon,
That forecast looks good, please share with the Eastern Panhandle. How about the gang over the ridge at Grassy Meadows? Any trees open yet?

Mark 220 Maple

[darkmachine]

From Hardy county, Eastern Panhandle

All our buckets are out, and two out of three gravity lines are tapped in. When we get the last line in this week it should bring us to about 550 taps. Had a good start to the week, but then got cold, Trees ran yesterday but all the taps and lines stayed frozen. Hopefully this weekend will be GREAT!!!
collected 150 gallons in zero storage for a boil Friday.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mark,

They put out about 240 taps about 8 or 9 days ago and got about 400 gallon of sap so far and boiled it off Monday and Tues. Stopped by for about an hour on Monday when they were boiling and watched them draw off their first syrup and it was really light. They have about 200 more taps to put in first of next week and they are tapped out.

[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

Brandon, good to see you may have a start down your way to.. hope your saps levels over flow for you this year..

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Put in about 405 taps in 6 hours yesterday afternoon and the weather looks good this coming week for a good run. I tapped both south side bushes yesterday and everything is tapped except the 220 on the north side. It has went from cold all winter to upper 50's this coming week, so I hope it isn't a repeat of last year. 52 today but windy and then cooler tomorrow and then 40's Tues and Wed and low 50's Thurs and Friday. We'll see what happens, not used to seeing these kind of temperatures right out of the gate. Only in mid 30's yesterday afternoon when tapping with some wind, but sap was running some.

May try to fire up evaporator Tues or Wed afternoon to test out and set the AOF system before I turn it over to someone else to boil later in the week. Would have been done tapping a little quicker but I changed out almost 100 of my health spouts to the new CDL clear 1 year smart spouts to give them a try, so I was changing them out at every tree as I came to them. Only take about 1.25 quarts of syrup to pay for them but hopefully they will make enough of a difference that I will know whether they are worth time, trouble and cost.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up about 370 gallons of sap this evening and still some left in the woods. Cold tonight and looks like we should get sap for next 3 days until it gets too warm. Hope to fire up evaporator for a while tomorrow to test out new AOF system and tweak it.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 425 gallons of sap 02/16 and boiled it off on 02/17 along with remaining that didn't get boiled off on 2/15 and picked up another 155 gallons yesterday and boiled it off yesterday evening. Temperatures hit 61 on 02/16 with lots of sun and 66 on 02/17. Don't ever recall seeing these kind of temps in February. So far, 950 gallons of sap this week off of 405 taps and supposed to get 22 tonight and then upper 40's next couple of days and down to 20 Tues night and then few days in 40's before hopefully another cold night or two. Don't expect much sap next week, but hopefully forecast will change.

It is drier than I have ever seen it this time of year. Ground is dry and there is no mud to be found on the south sides, so it is not looking like a very promising year.

[Sugarmaker]

Brandon,
We have the same dry ground too. Need more mud to make syrup.
Chris

[Parker]

Brandon- we have snow to spare if you want some... Good luck!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Parker,

I would gladly take about 12 to 18 inches of it. Not much freezing in sight but the temperature highs for next 10 days is 40's every day if we could get into 20's at night would be good but not happening. Another strange year.

[3rdgen.maple]

We cant even hit 20 here. -digits tonight. Thursday shows 39 degrees for the high but it isnt going to run been to cold. nothing on the 10 day for sap weather other than thursday. I keep asking myself why do I do all these upgrades and spending all this money on maple and the end results have been terrible for 3 years and this one doesnt tickle me right either. I guessing it is going to warmup quick and another small yiled this year.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 105 gallons yesterday from 405 taps that ran over last 4 days. Been too warm here for 9 straight days and 10 day forecast shows nothing really any better. Did the same thing last year, went from cold to warm the same week and hardly got cold again but this year is even worse. Went ahead and boiled off 105 gallons as normally I would dump it and not fire up evaporator for that much sap but way this year is going, the season may be about over before it starts. In 20 years of making syrup, I have never seen two straight weeks of too warm of weather like this in Feb and a 3rd week in the making.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
What is the elevation where your trees are located? I don't have a tree this year that is over 1600 ft. I get freezes sometimes when others don't because of the cold air sinking.
I have had 3 or more days in the middle 20s this week, followed by mid 50 days. Thursday we broke the camp record for sap collection by 200 gallons. Most of my sap is coming from the vac. system. 1059 taps on lesser quality trees are out running 789 taps on super quality trees with out vacuum 3 to 1 so far. I can't afford to put vacuum on the gravity system yet. I know what Henry will say. I can't afford not too, because he has said that to me before. I have had 1 day of 70 degree temps so far and according to the forecast its suspose to be 72 on Monday before another freeze up? I hope you get some freezing weather soon. I guess the guys over the hill at grassy meadows are looking for some freezing weather also?

Mark 220 Maple

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mark,

My trees are around 2,600 in elevation which does hurt as you are right, the cold air sinks at night. The guys at Grassy are kicking my butt this year and are getting a lot more sap with 7/16" spouts but they seem to be getting a little colder temps too. Hope March is better than Feb as February hasn't been too kind here. Warmest last 2 weeks of Feb I have ever seen.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up another 280 gallons of sap yesterday evening and boiled it off that ran for last 3 days and hoping it ran some more overnight and today. Hopefully will get what is out tomorrow evening in the flooding and rain as I was hoping for mud and we finally got some mud and now 1 to 2 inches of rain predicted just for tomorrow not counting what is forecasted for today and tonight. So far, 1,325 gallons of sap from 405 taps in 2 weeks. Hopefully the next two weeks will be better. Still have 220+ on the north side to tap I normally tap around March 1st, but waiting to see what weather does. This week looks a touch better but still not very good was lot of warm days and little freezing.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
My weather forecast is not much better! Maybe a couple nights below freezing next week.
It will be a good test for the check valves on my vacuum system with the high temp tomorrow in the 70's. If we get the flooding waters as predicted I won't be able to get in to get my water if they run. I just called Ivan Puffenbarger he finally got some good runs this past week. He said it's calling for snow tomorrow night in Highland County? He believes the season is just getting started. I hope he is right on that one.

Mark 220 Maple

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mark,

It is probably just getting started for him and he is probably right on because it is quite a bit colder there always but we are well ahead of him and the 10 day forecast doesn't look too good and bad thing is that they have been missing it nearly every day as the day and night temps have been higher than they have predicted.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Helper collected aprox 200+ gallons of sap yesterday AM and I was able to get to sugarhouse and starting tapping around 5 pm and got in 220+ taps on North side in all the wind and rain and about half of them after dark with LED headlamp. Weather forecast looks better for next 10 days and supposed to get into 20's for 4 straight nights starting last night and hopefully sap will kick up. North sides were running good as I was tapping and we got a lot of rain yesterday and with all the rain we got last week it was getting close to flooding and there is water everywhere so with some freezing temps sap should run good this week.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Helpers boiled off the 225 gallons from yesterday this morning and sap ran aprox 300 gallons today but didn't collect any and hope to collect tommorrow evening and expect run of about the same tomorrow which should allow for about 600 gallons to boil on Thurs. Weather not great but better than it was and hoping we can get some decent weather for next couple of weeks as we are about 3 weeks from normal end of season. 1,550 gallons of sap in Feb and hopefully we can at least double that in March but weather needs to get better.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Collected 585 gallons on Wed evening that got boiled off on Thursday and collected 210 gallons Friday evening and 270 Saturday morning and all of it was boiled off on Saturday. Weather has been extremely tough and no deep freeze since before I tapped 3+ weeks ago. So far in 3 weeks 2610 gallons of sap and ratio appears to be about 52+ to 1 which goes hand in hand with a lot of warm weather and just a few minor freezing nights. Lot of sap has been cloudy from a lot of days in 50's and 60's but I canned off everything last night and so far 16 gallons of light and 30 gallons of Medium. Expected the syrup to be darker from the cloudy sap but it stayed light and lighter flavor.

Hoping for a decent run next 3 days after today as it is below freezing now and supposed to be 21 tonight and 24 tomorrow night.

[Maple Hobo]

Nice snow blanket this afternoon and evening on top of a good rain. Looks like a good run for tomorrow once it thaws. :)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 370 gallons this evening that ran last 2 days and and left about 50 gallons on the north side. Nearly 4 weeks without a deep freeze but getting a few nights in the mid to upper 20's and getting some sap. Up to 3,000 gallons of sap in 24 days. North side taps just been in for 8 days and picked up 210 this evening off of the 225 on the north side and left about 50 more gallons on the north side. Hoping they keep running good as 3.5 weeks of warm weather has put a hurting on the south side taps. Couple inches of rain over the next 48 hours and hopefully some colder temps.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

PIcked up 560 gallons on Tues and Wed and boiled it off on Wed and got about 8 gallons of syrup out of 560 gallons of sap. Worst sugar content I have ever seen. Gathered 660 more gallons yesterday and sugar content was better but not good. Haven't had a deep freeze in 4+ weeks and yesterday was 4 weeks since I had tapped on south side and appears we are about done. Temps pushing 70's this week and no deep freezes in sight. Sugar content would likely be a result of minimal freezing temps as it has only been below 25 two times in 4 weeks and that was only 2 nights it got to 23 for a short period of time. Longest growing season last year we have ever had and probably the most sunshine in a spring and summer we have ever had. Just goes to show no matter how good the growing season is it all depends on weather during sugaring season. 3830 gallons of sap in 4 weeks and less than 70 gallon of syrup. North side taps only been in 13 days and hopefully can get some cold weather in the next couple of weeks as I have 230 taps on the north side that are still fresh.

Another factor in the low sugar content would have to be a ton of rain we have gotten over the past three weeks. I think the trees have been just sucking up the water everywhere.

[Edward Howell]

Brandon ,
I doing the push boil today and start washing the tapps , will post results when finished but i am seeing 80 to 1 or better. Thank you for posting , I thought this was just my woods, whew , . This is my first season in WV and was beginning to wonder if we had made a hugh blunder setting syrup production up here ....:cool:

ED

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ed,

Last 3 years I was running aprox 48.5 to 1, so this is the worst sugar I have seen in 5 years. I am running about 56 to 1 this year.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up just over 400 gallons yesterday evening and it puts season totals at almost 4250 gallons of sap. Very warm for next 10 days with basically no freezing in sight and appears we may be done this year. Hopefully things will change, just wait and see.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled off 405 gallons on Tues and got down in high 20's for a few hours last night and sap started running again today on north side but got to 65 today with all sun, so probably won't last long. South sides are done, may get 50 gallon total from this run on them from 405 taps. Sugar content bad this year and will likely finish up somewhere between 55 to 60 to 1. Night or two just below freezing next week so will try to keep going. Lots of days in last 5 weeks in 60's but north side taps only been in 2.5 weeks, so they should be good for a couple of more weeks if we can get a little cold weather.

4230 gallons of sap thru Tues.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
Send some of those freezing days my way please. Have you heard anything from Ernie over at Peterstown, also the Dr. in Nicholas County? Just curious? I seen a YouTube Video of someone making syrup in Calhoun County, any idea who they are? Henry told me about a new guy in Salem, WV in Harrison County, His name is Steve Coleman, I believe he tapped over 300 taps this year but has the potential to go to 1500. I have been pondering a WV get together sometime this Summer or Fall at a central location, probably Flat Woods, I will PM you with other thoughts on that subject when the season is over and cleaned upped.

Mark 220 Maple

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mark,

Haven't talked to Ernie Galford to see if he is making any syrup. He has about 1500 taps but his health isn't very good anymore so not sure if he is making any. Been meaning to call him, just been crazy. Talked to Dr Greenburg a few times, he is wanting me to run a couple gallon of his syrup thru the filter press. He has some crazy woman that is convinced that running his syrup thru a filter press with totally change the flavor even though I have told him it wouldn't, just make it lighter. I think he is planning on getting a press for next year. Never heard of Steve Coleman but a lot of guys making syrup in WV I don't know. Larry Harris finished up earlier this week and they made about 87 or 88 gallons off of 420 taps which is down for them.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 255 gallons of sap and boiled it off yesterday. Syrup is Dark now and may be first dark syrup of the season. Puts season totals of sap just under 4500 gallon with just under 80 gallon of syrup. 405 taps on south side are done as they shut down in less than 5 weeks with probably 60% of the days in the last 5 weeks have been 50+ degrees with many days in the 60's and yesterday it was in the 70's. Still have about 230 in on the north side that have been in less than 3 weeks. 1800 gallon of sap from the north side taps in 2.5 weeks and hopefully I can get a little more cold weather and get some more sap from them. Close to the end but we'll see what happens.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
I gathered water for the last time most likely yesterday. 5 gallons short of 11000 for the season, sort of disappointing season again with the amount of taps I have in. My camp is located near Upper Tract, WV which is recorded as the dryest place in West Virginia, I have Devil's Tounge cactus that grows on the ridge tops above the Maple Trees. I was told this is the only place in the State where they grow. So anytime I get over 200 gallons I guess it should be considered a success. Last year I only got 870 holes open and made more syrup, however I had 60 inches of snow to work with from the first of Dec. to the middle of March. I did take time yesterday to visit a couple camps in Highland County, Sugartree Country Store was open for business since they are Mennonites and won't be open Sunday. Glen Heatwole told me about a camp in Highland that Henry and his crew built a modern high vac. system for, about 3000 taps, they had made over 1300 gallons all light amber. Now the owner needs to upgrade his sugar camp to handle the water. I don't believe he will ever be on the tour because of his remote location. He is right near Ivan's Camp but is one mile off the main road, even Henry said it was rough getting to the camp.

Mark 220 Maple

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mark,

I did speak with Ernie Galford today and he only made about 20 gallons on 800 taps. He told me about 3 weeks ago he started getting long strings of white in the bottom of the tank and he quit making syrup because of it. I had to chuckle because I started getting it about 3 weeks ago and continued to make medium syrup. Explained to him it would just strings of bacteria growing in the lines during the warm days and then when it froze and started running it would flush it out of the lines into the tank. Hate it for him as he has let who knows how much run on the ground.

With his bad health problems hard to tell how many more years if any he will be able to make syrup.

[Maple Hobo]

Season appears over here, been a pretty good year we have been blessed with.

Doubled production from 2009 to 2010 rebuilding the whole camp, but with a short season. Then again that amount this year.

We could have had an extra week or two at the start of the season if we had all the parts and equipment back in time. Ah well... Still able to have extra for bulk sales.

Looking forward to next season already...

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I am still getting some sap from the 240 north side taps which have been in 4 weeks late tomorrow night. They survived a week of temps in the 60's and 70's every day, although not very good. Doesn't look like there will be much sap this week, but maybe a few hundred gallon. Right now it is wait and see. 2 or 3 nights below 25 degrees in 6.5 weeks now and the weather forecasts have been wrong nearly every single day and night for last 6 weeks. Canned off 21 more gallon last night and so far I have canned 16 gallon of light and 51 gallon of medium. About another 12 to 13 gallons to can with what is in the evaporator so far as I haven't boiled since 03/18. Today starts week # 7 and it appears it will be the last week. No sap at all last week other than 100+ gallons that ran on Friday and yesterday.

[Maple Hobo]

Should be interesting to see if the cold snap hurts the trees... they were just starting to bud here.

Might give another week or so on the season, granted will probably need to retap for that though?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 200 gallons of sap on Monday and 150 yesterday and boiled it off yesterday evening. Sugar content is getting worse as yesterday it was about 70 to 1. Looks like few hundred more gallon of sap before it quits and will likely be dark syrup.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
Now is the time that your elevation is helping you, my trees have large buds and will pop open for sure during the next warm spell. The last water I gathered created buddy syrup, well I guess its buddy I'm not brave enough to taste it to see, as my helper said he likes maple syrup to good to take a chance on tasting it. It showed all the signs of being buddy, didn't want to finish, plus almost impossible to get it thru the filter press.

Mark 220 Maple

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 200 gallons of sap on Wed and 95 gallon yesterday and boiled it off last night. Sap is crystal clear, as clear as it could possibly be. Syrup was dark as sap is late season and syrup pan has a lot of sand built up on it. Cleaned it mid point of season and should have cleaned it again this week but didn't expect to get much sap. Sanitized out all the tanks and buckets still out last night and expect to get a little sap the next 3 days and will pull lines and boil off whatever I get Monday which will be the last boil of the year which would be the first time I ever made syrup in April.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
Congrats on that April boil, I've wanted to make syrup in April, in the spring of 2000 we made syrup on the 31st of March, that is the closest we ever got to April. We finished the last batch that came off the evaporator tonight (Apr. 2). I don't count that as boiling. I have 12 gallon of C for my efforts. My wife and I stopped by Henry and Rhoda's Friday after coming home from Morgantown, Henry made the most syrup he's ever made. he still has water to boil but may dump it said it was a little milky. It has been frozen up in Somerset County for the last week, they was expecting 6 inches of snow Friday nite into Saturday. Henry has had 10 degrees and 12 degrees temps in the last week. Another camp I visited Friday was all smiles, they had gathered over 200,000 gallons of water and they might get some more even though their tapholes had been open six weeks. Yes they have a RO. I believe when it was new it was a 1600 gallon an hour unit but they added more membranes. I asked Henry about another camp that borders their camp, he said they had a super year also, they had already brought him 35 barrels, last year they made 19 total.

Mark 220 Maple

[PATheron]

Guys- I have a question for you guys that are friends with Mr Brenneman. Does he have any old ro's laying around for parts, etc, that he may have taken in on trade? Also can you just go to his place to talk to him and where does he live? Theron

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

Theron- Henry Has a lot of used maple equipment. He may have parts to sell as well. He is located near Salisbury, PA, which is only a few miles from the Maryland line. He has a voice mail you can leave a message and he can call you back. His voice mail is 814-941-8974. If you come down this way, look me up. I bought that used 60 CFM pump from you over a year ago. I would be happy to show you around.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Theron,

He is a large Leader dealer and a dealer for a lot of other companies. He also sells a lot of used equipment and if you go on Leader's website and look under dealers, his physical address is there. He is Amish but is tremendous to deal with. He is also a large packer and bulk buyer.

[Dennis H.]

He is a nice guy to talk to but he was a little slow getting back with me. Ordered a roof jack off of him back in July and was told that it would be ready in Oct. He called me in the end of Jan to tell me that the roof jack has been sitting there since Oct and that he forgot about it. By Jan I had already had to have soemthing lined up for a roof jack.

I hated to do it but I did buy it.

[PATheron]

He buys syrup up here too. I had known of him just had never met him. Sounds like it would be fun to go to his place and check things out. Maybe I can come down after season some time and see his place and check out his stuff. Im always looking for used stuff to build things etc and he sounds like just the guy. Theron

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 370 more gallons of sap yesterday that ran from Thursday night thru early afternoon yesterday. Was 70 degrees on Sunday and 80+ degrees yesterday and sap was still running amazing pretty good. First time in 20 years of making syrup I have ever made any syrup in April. Pulled all buckets and tanks yesterday and washed up everything and put it in the sugarhouse while I was boiling off everything. Of course, after I got home last night and checked forecast another small freeze tonight and then none in sight after that. Probably could have gotten another 150 to 200 gallons of sap but too late now as everything is washed up and put away. 5505 gallons of sap for the year which is a record by aprox 350 gallons of sap and aprox 95 gallons of syrup. Sugar content was low this year but to be expected with 8 weeks without any deep freeze. First time I have made syrup for 8 weeks too. South side trees produced 2700 gallons off of 405 taps and north side produced 2805 gallons off of 240 taps. South side trees are mostly small trees and on steep hilsides and just are not going to run much sap as the hillsides are dry and not much moisture. Overall, tremendous year considering most days in 50's and 60's and very minimal freezing. Season lasted 52 days and probably 2nd most syrup made. If sugar content was what it is in normal year, syrup would have been close to 113 gallons instead of 95. 10 gallons of syrup last 3 days of March and 5 to 6 gallons first 4 days in April is pretty amazing being this far south.

I praise God and give him all the credit for blessing in spite of all the extremely warm weather we had. I am still amazed we got this much sap with all the very warm weather we had nearly the entire season.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

All the tubing is washed and need to can off the remaining aprox 28 gallons of syrup and then it will be time to start on wood for next year. Made the changes today on north side while washing the tubing there and need to spend 3 to 4 hours in each side south bush and make a few minor changes there.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Finished canning yesterday and got a surprise with more syrup than I had expected. I got 11.625 gallon out of the last batch last night and that put season total at 97.625 which breaks the record of 97.5 set in 2008. Also set a sap record this year with 5505 gallons of sap which breaks the former sap record set in 2007 of 4,890.

Sugar content was 56.38 which is the worst sugar content I have gotten since I started keeping good records.

Either way, very good year considering that when I tapped 405 on the south side on Feb 12th, we have never gotten a single deep freeze from then until now. I think we have had 3 or 4 nights it got down to 23 degrees in the 8 weeks I made syrup and we had more wind this year nearly every day than I can ever remember and quite a bit of south and east wind. Amazing numbers considering that 3 days after I tapped it was 60+ degrees and I wish I had kept record of how many 60+ and 70+ degree days we had in the 8 weeks of making syrup, it would have to be a ton.

2700 gallons of sap out of 405 taps on south side which were tapped 02/12

2805 gallons of sap out of 240 taps on north side which were tapped 02/28

Made syrup until April 4th which is first time I have ever made syrup in April and 5 days later than I have ever made syrup. Tapping north side trees late this year really paid huge dividends.

16 gallons of light
50 gallons of medium
31.625 gallons of dark

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Amazing how early the sugars budded here this year. They were already leafed out by this past weekend with leaves as bigger than 1". They are ahead of even the reds and everything else. I have never seen them come out this early in recent years. Kinda crazy that less than 3 weeks after making syrup they had leaves on them. Hope that means they will be making lots of sugar for next year.

Did order a steamaway during the early order season and hope to get the evaporator up to around 100 gph. If it gives me the 65% they say it will, that should put me up close to 110 gph on good days.

[markcasper]

Brandon,

Why not an ro?

[3rdgen.maple]

Very strange indeed. I dont even see buds yet on softs or the sugars here. Usually the reds are budded a couple weeks ago. When I pulled the taps on the vac bush last week sap was still running out of the trees. Never would of thought that either. Brandon you know I was going to ask this but when you get the steamaway can I ask you to take some close up pictures of it for my build?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mark,

Nothing against an RO. Operation and 100% of the investment is mine and I could buy a RO but I do all the gathering and have 3 or 4 guys that are retired that like to help with the boiling and running the evaporator is about as complex as it gets for them. If I went with an RO, that would put them out of helping. Maybe in the future if I expanded and added more taps and didn't have any help but not in the plans for now.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

3rdgen,

I will have pics on my photobucket along with everything else once I get the steamaway and get it installed.

[cropseyvillemark]

Brandon, What is the verdict on AOF?